Album lore

Wayne Smith’s Under Me Sleng Teng, issued by Greensleeves Records in early 1986, stands as a pivotal artifact in the reggae and dancehall canon. The title track employs the now-legendary Sleng Teng riddim, a digital rhythm crafted from a preset on a Casio MT-40 keyboard, marking one of the earliest uses of fully computerized backing in Jamaican popular music. This record, with its dozen tracks including "Icky All Over" and "Like A Dragon," captures a moment when ragga and digital dancehall began to eclipse traditional roots reggae and rocksteady styles.The album’s raw, machine-driven pulse underpins Smith’s vocal delivery and the dub-inflected versions, reflecting the era’s transition in studio technology and production aesthetics. Released on Greensleeves, a label noted for its reggae releases, Under Me Sleng Teng resonates as a signal of reggae’s digital shift, a record crate-diggers and boutique selectors return to for its historical weight and rhythmic immediacy.

Album lore

Wayne Smith’s Under Me Sleng Teng, issued by Greensleeves Records in early 1986, stands as a pivotal artifact in the reggae and dancehall canon. The title track employs the now-legendary Sleng Teng riddim, a digital rhythm crafted from a preset on a Casio MT-40 keyboard, marking one of the earliest uses of fully computerized backing in Jamaican popular music. This record, with its dozen tracks including "Icky All Over" and "Like A Dragon," captures a moment when ragga and digital dancehall began to eclipse traditional roots reggae and rocksteady styles.The album’s raw, machine-driven pulse underpins Smith’s vocal delivery and the dub-inflected versions, reflecting the era’s transition in studio technology and production aesthetics. Released on Greensleeves, a label noted for its reggae releases, Under Me Sleng Teng resonates as a signal of reggae’s digital shift, a record crate-diggers and boutique selectors return to for its historical weight and rhythmic immediacy.